Creating a poolside tropical retreat with Beautiful Bamboo

A customer in Kissimmee wanted to create a tropical look for his outside poolside area so he came to Beautiful Bamboo.  We helped him select various sized bamboo poles, reed fencing and bamboo fencing.

With the assistance of a talented local craftsman, our customer's outside sitting area was transformed from an ordinary patio to an extraordinarily beautiful tropical retreat.

Walls, ceiling and trim - all covered with bamboo products

Even the light fixtures are made with bamboo

Rolls of reed fencing and bamboo fencing made easy-to-install wall and ceiling coverings

Next project:  a bamboo floor!

Grow your own flute-making and building materials

Few things are as peacefully inviting as a gentle breeze blowing through a bamboo forest.  While mountainsides covered in giant bamboo are not part of the American landscape, by installing a few Madake Japanese Timber Bamboo plants, you can create a miniature version of a bamboo forest in your own backyard.  

A four-year-old grove of Madake - Japanese Timber Bamboo

Not only does Madake (Phyllostachys bambusoides Madake) Japanese Timber Bamboo make a serene and lovely grove, the thick, straight canes - 2 to 6-inch diameter and up to 60-feet tall - are one of the best bamboos to use for building projects.

The thick white line that encircles each culm section on Madake's dark green canes adds to the attractiveness of this beautiful and highly functional running bamboo

 
Instrument-makers also favor Madake for flutes and didgeridoos because of its exceptionally strong, thick-walled canes.

A Shakuhachi flute made from Madake bamboo by flute-maker RyuzanTakahashi (photo by Brucehuebner.com)

At Beautiful Bamboo, our popular Designer Quality, Polished Bamboo Poles come from domestically-grown Madake Bamboo.

Beautiful Madake bamboo canes are available in a variety of sizes on our website

 

Madake Japanese Timber Bamboo is a running bamboo, which means it is not an appropriate choice for all landscapes.  We control spread of the underground rhizomes by mowing a swath of about 20' around the grove but running bamboos can also be controlled by installing a rhizome barrier.

 

Two new pictures of wedding arbors sent by customers

In the past couple days, I receive pictures from two customers who built wedding arbors with Beautiful Bamboo.  Here's the first letter and accompanying photo:

My husband and I bought a few pieces of bamboo from you for our son's wedding at the beach, attached is a picture, it turned out really nice. Thank your husband for helping us select such beautiful pieces.

 

And the second letter/picture:

This is the Arbor we built with the bamboo we bought from your grove last year. I don't know if you remember us we are the ones that showed up on the day it actually snowed in Florida lol we had a great time and this turned out to be perfect. Thank you.

What can you build out of bamboo? How about a beautiful wet bar!

Beautiful Bamboo customer and local craftsman, Teron June, used our Domestically Grown, Designer Quality Bamboo Poles to construct a wet bar for a client and sent along the following photos of the finished project.

Is green bamboo good for building?

A visitor to our website wrote:
I love your website! I have a question. You mention that you have green, just cut, bamboo. Can you actually make fences, etc from green bamboo or do you have to wait for it to dry out? I’m just thinking that if I buy and plant bamboo, I’d like to know whether I could build furniture with it as soon as it’s tall enough. Thanks!

My response:
Freshly cut bamboo will turn tan as it dries and it dries rather quickly, usually within a few months. It can certainly be used for building when green but, like any wood, as it dries, there is shrinkage. If you use freshly cut bamboo canes you'll need to factor that into your calculations.